Table 1 Summary of characteristics of included studies

Bagla et al. [17] (multicentre prospective clinical series)

USA

Pain, disability, complications

STAR tumour ablation system + vertebral augmentation

–

50 (26/24)

61 (13)

Renal (11)

Baseline, prior to discharge, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months

Sayed et al. [18] (single centre prospective cohort study)

USA

Pain, quality of life and local tumour control

STAR tumour ablation system + vertebral augmentation

–

30 (19/11)

62.9 (13.45)

Renal (7)

Baseline, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months

Prezzano et al. [19] (single centre retrospective study)

USA

Pain and local tumour control

OsteoCool ablation device + vertebral augmentation

RFA + radiotherapy (3D-CRT, volumetric-arc and SBRT techniques)

26

63

Lung, breast (8)

Baseline, and median of 3 and 12 weeks for pain. Tumour progression was assessed as when it re-occurred- medial follow up was 8.2 months

Tomasian et al. [20] (single-centre retrospective study)

USA

Local tumour control and complications

STAR tumour ablation system + vertebral augmentation

–

27 (17/10)

–

Lung (10)

2 h, 1 day, 1 week and 1 month for complications. Medial follow up of 16 weeks for tumour control

Zhao et al. [21] (single centre prospective study)

China

Pain, quality of life and complications

RFA-I type multipolar cancer ablation system + vertebral augmentation

–

16 (4/12)

66.8

Lung (9)

Tumour control within 1 week

Pain at baseline, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months and 6 months

QoL at baseline and 1 month

Cazzato et al. [22] (single centre retrospective study)

France

Pain, complications and local tumour control

OsteoCool ablation system + vertebral augmentation

–

11 (5/6)

61.3 (11.6)

Lung (4)

Baseline, 1–2 months for pain, routine imaging for tumour control

Greenwood et al. [23] (single centre retrospective study)

USA

Pain and local tumour control

STAR tumour ablation system and vertebral augmentation + radiotherapy

–

21 (13/9)

61.8

Lung (8)

Baseline, 1 week, 1, 3 and 6 months

Anchala et al. [24] (multicentre retrospective review)

USA

Pain, local tumour control, complications

STAR tumour ablation system (+ vertebral augmentation if required)

–

92 (13/21^a)

60^a

Lung

Baseline, 1 week, 1 month and 6 months

Gervagez et al. [25] (single-centre retrospective study)

Germany

Pain, disability and tumour control

Radionics system or RITA system + vertebral augmentation

–

41 (25/16)

62.7 (9)

Breast (8)

Baseline, 6 weeks, 6 months and more than 6 months

Wallace et al. [26] (single-centre retrospective study)

USA

Pain and complications

STAR tumour ablation system + vertebral augmentation

–

72 (28/44)

68.4 (18.8)

Lung (20)

Baseline, 1 and 4 weeks

Zheng et al. [27] (single-centre retrospective study)

China

Pain, tumour control, complications

RFA (unknown system) + vertebral augmentation

–

26 (12/14)

59.31 (11.62)

Breast (6)

Baseline, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months

Mean follow up of 8.4 months for tumour control

Proschek et al. [28] (prospective pilot study)

Germany

Pain, quality of life, complications, tumour control

CelonPOWER system

RFA + cement augmentation

16 (0/16)

59.5

Breast (16)

Mean follow up of 20.4 months (Range 8–36)

Dabravolski et al. [29] (single centre retrospective study)

Germany

Pain, tumour control and survival

CAVITY SpineWand + vertebral augmentation

–

250 (94/156)

65.6

Breast (48)

Baseline, 2 and 14 days, 3, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months

Georgy et al. [30] (single centre retrospective study)

USA

Pattern of cement deposition, pain, complications

CAVITY SpineWand + vertebral augmentation

–

37 (16/21)

69.6

Breast (10)

Baseline, 2–4 weeks after

Nakatsuka et al. [31] (single centre prospective study)

Japan

Pain, efficacy, complications

Cool-tip RF ablation system (+ vertebral augmentation if required)

–

10 (6/4)

61.0 (13)

Colorectal (4)

Mean follow up of 4.5 months (range 2.7–7.1)